Author: John Lawless

Alan Bartram, bass player for The Del McCoury Band and The Travelin' McCoury's, and his wife Kristina are celebrating yesterday's birth of their first child, Ella Grey Bartram. She was born at 3:39 p.m. (CDT) on April 25, weighing in at

Are you one of those accursed banjo players who can't seem to keep your two non-picking, right hand fingers in place? All the manuals seem to recommend keeping two fingers planted on the head, but for many new pickers, doing so

And speaking of Carrie Hassler... She is set to be the featured guest on tonight's debut edition of The Revolution, a new radio show on WSWV FM, hosted by Jamie Dean of Cumberland River. The station is located in Pennington Gap, VA, in the

The Distance, the third Rural Rhythm project from Carrie Hassler, was released on Tuesday (4/24). As always, Hassler's powerful voice is front and center, and she is assisted by some real heavyweights in the studio. Ron Stewart is on banjo, Alan

Jake Schepps and his Expedition Quartet have been making waves with their non-traditional approach to both classical and string band music. As a progressive banjoist, Schepps has the experience of annoying bluegrassers by recording and performing the music of Béla Bartok,

When The Grascals held their Life Finds A Way CD release party in Nashville last month, a couple of videos were shot to capture the festivities. Held at the Sirius XM studio downtown on March 27, the event featured a live

The Herschel Sizemore documentary film project to which we alluded back in February continues apace. With a working title of Herschel Sizemore: A Mandolin in B, producer/director Rick Bowman has created a crowd sourcing campaign at indiegogo to raise funds to

Those of us who study the history of string music in the United States are well aware of efforts to fashion the various instruments of the viol family into fretted counterparts. In the late 19th century, newly popular instruments like

Wayne Erbsen's two latest bluegrass instruction books begin his new Bluegrass Jamming series, with titles for both fiddlers and mandolinists. A similar book for banjo is expected later this year. Like his earlier series titled as being for "The Complete Ignoramus,"

Noted comedian and banjo picker Ed Helms, he of The Hangover and The Office fame, has created another clever video for Funny Or Die featuring his banjo pickin' persona. You may recall the hilarious spoof he did with Noam Pikelny when Noam's